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Emily Trustram Eve
Director
ACMA, CGMA, CIPD,
MAPI, Prince2 Practitioner, Lean/SixSigma
Life and Pensions Benchmark - Financial Services
The Assignment
Having been recruited as an Associate by Troika (now Navigant), to deliver a commercial due diligence assignment, I was brought back to lead the Legal and General submission for the 2006/2007Life and Pensions Benchmark. The assignment was to ensure that L&G’s entry into the bi-annual Trokia / Slainte Life and Pension Benchmark was complete and accurate.
Company Information
Legal and General are a leading financial services organisation and provider of risk, savings and investment management products in the UK since 1836.
In 2007, Troika were acquired by global consultant firm Navigant Consulting. Troika was a UK financial services consultancy providing consultancy services to the financial services industry covering operations performance improvement, product and distribution strategies, organization, people, IT effectiveness and transaction support. Troika’s UK clients include 13 of the top 15 life companies, nine of the top 15 banks and building societies and 10 of the top 15 investment management firms.
In 2004, Troika and Slainte, (the leading UK & Australian financial services benchmarking company) partnered to deliver a new benchmarking service to the UK Life and Pensions market. The Troika/Slainte L&P Benchmark is unique in the Life and Pensions market because participants are provided with a detailed analysis of the findings, jointly delivered by Troika and Slainte via a tailored report and series of workshops with each provider. As a result, Life and Pensions providers can be confident of a reporting process that highlights issues specific to their business, as well as suggestions as to how those challenges can be best overcome. The first round of data collection involved10 of the UK’s leading Life and Pensions organisations with 20 million+ policies under management (approx. 20% of the market) and this rose steady over the subsequent rounds.
Andrew Stewart, Managing Director of Troika, commented in 2004 that “the initial findings of the Troika/Slainte L&P Benchmark look set to raise some challenging questions for Life and Pensions providers. After a turbulent few years of operating, characterised by falling investment returns, regulatory pressures and the drive towards outsourcing in financial services, now is the perfect time for the industry’s leading players to reassess their key methods, processes and systems to ensure that best practice is being met across all aspects of their business. As the leading firm of independent advisers to the Life and Pensions industry, Troika is uniquely placed to help participants in the benchmarking process understand the confidential data and put into context for their business and its current market position. We’re confident that the Troika/Slainte L&P Benchmark will empower life and pensions offices by giving them a much greater degree of knowledge and control over their critical processes and systems.”
The Challenges and Solutions
A large amount of data was collected from across the organisation and it was important that it was compliant with the very specific benchmark guidelines in order to ensure that it delivered meaningful results. Data therefore had to be fully understood and validated before it could be submitted.
Internal stakeholders needed convincing that participating in the industry benchmark was a useful exercise and I had to work hard to limit the number of benchmark questions which L&G decided to opt out of, due to the sensitivity of the information. It was important to the wider benchmark that as many industry participants as possible took part in each question both to ensure anonymity and range within the sector.
A large part of the role was therefore working with internal stakeholders to ensure the completeness, accuracy of data submitted and to interpret and operationalize the results to deliver maximum value from participating in the benchmark.
The Value Add
The core assignment was to ensure the validity of the data provided by L&G, on behalf of L&G, Troika and the wider benchmark participants.
In addition to the core assignment, I identified the opportunity to introduce a number of key best practise metrics, selected from the benchmark, to be monitored monthly to drive operational excellence. This meant that the value of participating in the benchmark was felt continually rather than just every six to twelve months. Dashboard style reports were created to show current results against prior L&G results and the wider benchmark.
Testimonials
“I have been able to see firsthand Emily's ability to identify and tackle highly complex organizational and budgetary problems. She is able to get to the nub an issue fast, and to work with individuals and teams to sort those issues, through her very engaging and personable style. She is very straight forward, straight talking, and a delight to work with.”
Alison Hill,
Director South East Public Health Observatory
Supplier / business partner
“Emily is a very bright, commercial minded and multi talented individual. Her broader business approach to transactional process challenges and ultimate solutions were creative and thought provoking. Her work ethic and dedication to the task, however mundane was invaluable. I would highly recommend Emily and hope to work with her again one day.”
Pam Whitley,
Managing Director,
Group Resourcing,
Williams Lea – Line Manager
“Emily is an excellent HR professional, who changed the whole interim recruitment process within the Identity and Passport Services. She is always looking at the detail and exploring various avenues to get the right results. Emily is extremely precise in her approach and ensures her professional objective viewpoint to ensure delivery is successful. I have no problems in recommending Emily for any business/project she may venture.”
Sonia Dhonsi,
Account Manager,
Capita – Supplier / business partner
“Emily carried out a comprehensive review of business processes, and her recommendations, including restructure, were accepted at Board level. Emily displayed excellent assessing, planning, communication and consultation skills, and made the changes a great success. Emily took enthusiastic charge implementing the changes as well as leading the team. The results were a lean operation, backed up by effective management information and improved customer service.”
Jeremie Pink,
Professional Services Manager,
Identity and Passport Service - Client
“Emily's ability to function as an HR professional, Project Manager, data migration expert and line manager combined with her limitless enthusiasm and energy was the single biggest factor in the success of this pay migration. The change lastest three months from start to finish and at all times Emily provided confidence, and the ability, to make it happen. A great character to work when pressure is on.”
David Scullion,
HR and Payroll Transition Project Manager,
Identity and Passport Service - Colleague
“Emily worked for me for about a year on a number of projects and I have no hesitation in recommending her. She has a unique blend of knowledge, skills and capabilities and always delivers excellent results. She is also great fun to work with and deals extremely well with stakeholders.”
Paul Wylie,
Deputy Director HR Operations,
Identity and Passport Service - Client
“Emily is extremely professional, tackling business problems and improving processes pragmatically and with great efficiency. She consistently receives excellent feedback for maintaining good working relationships with colleagues and stakeholders.”
Sarah Cotgreave,
Managing Director
Novos Limited - Client
“Emily was working for Williams Lea in a relationship management role. She was professional, managed a complex relationship very well and remained fair-minded throughout. A pleasure to work with”
Alan Middleton,
CEO PA Consulting
Supplier / business partner
"I have been working with Emily over the past 6 months and have been impressed by her ability to understand complex organisational and financial issues quickly, be pro-active in tackling issues and delivering timely solutions. Emily is very personable and her open and frank approach to business is refreshing. I have found her a pleasure to work with."
Clare Perkins,
Deputy Director, Centre for Public Health and North West Public Health Observatory, Liverpool John
Moores University – Supplier / business partner
